Requiem for Irish emigrant Jill Meagher -- the tragic loss of a wonderful young woman

Flowers are left at the Melbourne bridal shop where Jill Meagherwas last seen alive.Robert Mckechnie Source: Herald Sun

Flowers are left at the Melbourne bridal shop where Jill Meagherwas last seen alive. Picture: Robert Mckechnie Source: Herald Sun

I didn’t know Jill Meagher, the young Irish emigrant from the town of Drogheda found brutally raped and murdered in Australia, but I feel like I did.

She hails from the same town in Ireland as me, was an emigrant from Ireland like me and I’m sure she had the same hopes and dreams that all emigrants from my hometown have – to make it good somewhere in the world and to make people proud.

Jill, just 29, did all that and was living her dream in a Melbourne suburb happily married and working in a good job with the local radio station.

Then a horrible twist of fate saw her leaving her local pub to walk home last Saturday morning and being accosted by a fiend who raped and murdered her.

I can only think of her family back in Drogheda and her family in Australia and think how sad and awful it must be for them.

In her most frequently published photograph, she has a beautiful face, sparkling eyes, and a smile to melt an iceberg.

She was one of the brave ones who rather than sitting around in Ireland, chose to take the world as her oyster.

She and her husband Tom traveled all over the globe before settling in Australia where her family had previously lived.

Now that brave girl is gone, the victim of a senseless and cruel murder that will haunt her family and friends forever.

I hope her killer pays the full price for snatching this beautiful young woman away so savagely.
The family has only the memories of a beautiful girl and a sad tale that has captured the hearts of millions who read about her.

My brother Fergus, a member of parliament for the area of Drogheda, says the family is very highly regarded there and the news of young Jill’s death has stunned the town.